Treviso 13 Leicester Tigers 14
A penalty try with just two-and-a-half minutes remaining earned Leicester Tigers a thrilling Heineken Cup victory over Treviso in Italy.
Tigers spent most of the final half hour camped in the home side's half after Treviso had opened up a 13-7 lead.
But in wet and heavy conditions after 36 hours of non-stop rain in northern Italy, Leicester could not find a way over the line.
Time seemed to be running out on their attempts to maintain their unbeaten record against Italian sides in the competition until they got a scrum five metres out with six minutes left.
Referee Alain Rolland awarded Tigers penalty after penalty as Treviso repeatedly infringed and finally gave in to award a penalty score in the 78th minute.
Fly-half George Ford added the extras from under the posts to put Tigers back in front and they held on to record a win by the narrowest of margins.
Tigers had gone ahead with one of the best tries ever seen in the competition on 13 minutes as Ben Youngs took a tap penalty near his own line, ran 50 metres before finding Mat Tait who off-loaded in the tackle to Anthony Allen and the England centre fed Adam Thompstone for a 30-metre sprint to the line.
Treviso got on the board in controversial circumstances as Rolland gave the hosts a penalty try when a driving maul was pulled down by Julian Salvi a full 10 metres short of the Leicester line.
Two penalties from Alberto Di Bernardo then put the Italians 13-7 ahead and they looked on for a famous victory, despite yellow cards for Michele Rizzo (16 minutes) and Christian Loamanu (66 minutes), until the late drama.
And with Welsh side the Ospreys beating Toulouse, the result means Tigers have gone of Pool Two with two matches to play in January.
Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill admitted it was too close for comfort.
"We are relieved because we came away with the win. They made us work very hard and put in a fantastic performance," he said.
"But credit to my players because we stuck in there when everything was going against us.
"The referee was against us for a fair bit and the conditions were horrendous. We found it hard to break them down and the penalty try they were awarded was amazing."
For a full report and more reaction from the Tigers camp, see Monday's Leicester Mercury.
A penalty try with just two-and-a-half minutes remaining earned Leicester Tigers a thrilling Heineken Cup victory over Treviso in Italy.
Tigers spent most of the final half hour camped in the home side's half after Treviso had opened up a 13-7 lead.
But in wet and heavy conditions after 36 hours of non-stop rain in northern Italy, Leicester could not find a way over the line.
Time seemed to be running out on their attempts to maintain their unbeaten record against Italian sides in the competition until they got a scrum five metres out with six minutes left.
Referee Alain Rolland awarded Tigers penalty after penalty as Treviso repeatedly infringed and finally gave in to award a penalty score in the 78th minute.
Fly-half George Ford added the extras from under the posts to put Tigers back in front and they held on to record a win by the narrowest of margins.
Tigers had gone ahead with one of the best tries ever seen in the competition on 13 minutes as Ben Youngs took a tap penalty near his own line, ran 50 metres before finding Mat Tait who off-loaded in the tackle to Anthony Allen and the England centre fed Adam Thompstone for a 30-metre sprint to the line.
Treviso got on the board in controversial circumstances as Rolland gave the hosts a penalty try when a driving maul was pulled down by Julian Salvi a full 10 metres short of the Leicester line.
Two penalties from Alberto Di Bernardo then put the Italians 13-7 ahead and they looked on for a famous victory, despite yellow cards for Michele Rizzo (16 minutes) and Christian Loamanu (66 minutes), until the late drama.
And with Welsh side the Ospreys beating Toulouse, the result means Tigers have gone of Pool Two with two matches to play in January.
Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill admitted it was too close for comfort.
"We are relieved because we came away with the win. They made us work very hard and put in a fantastic performance," he said.
"But credit to my players because we stuck in there when everything was going against us.
"The referee was against us for a fair bit and the conditions were horrendous. We found it hard to break them down and the penalty try they were awarded was amazing."
For a full report and more reaction from the Tigers camp, see Monday's Leicester Mercury.
